Having the Strength
by Sora Tayuya
Summary: The Human Bio-Engineering Act of 1999 took 300 volunteers, and changed them. Now the Bio-Eng's are avoiding the government and joining biker gangs to be free and find the Legendary Treasure. Including a certain black-haired teen. *see profile for info*
1. Era of Adventure

**1. Era of Adventure**

_Twenty-two years ago, the legendary Biker Lord Gol D. Roger was executed before the world, in his birth town of Newark, New York . He had acquired everything in his life: fame, wealth, and power beyond most biker's dreams. As the Military was about to hang him from the gallows, he spoke these final, timeless words: "For every man, woman, and child out in the world today who wishes to be free, take it! Take the fame, power, and wealth I have left behind to the new age! I leave it to you; One Piece, the whole of my riches! Find it, and live on!" With these words he brought forth a new era, the Age of Bikers. Now, in the midst of this new age, a new breed of humans is quickly appearing. A new generation of young people aspiring to become the greatest biker in the world and hold the same title as the previous, Biker Lord!_

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The scruffy, black-haired 19-year old sat staring out of the dimly lit room, boredom present on his young-looking face. It had been only two days now that the government had contacted him; they were coming to pick up a Monkey D. Luffy, registered volunteer number 252. Luffy stuck out his tongue at the window overlooking the grey world. They swore that this was for his own safety, that the public may have mixed feelings about living next to a Bio-Eng., and that Luffy would be perfectly safe, happy, and with people of 'his own kind'. "Blech!" He retracted the tongue as he accidentally tasted dirty window, then sighed and thought about what his Grandpa had said to him in his letter 2 weeks ago.

"_Luffy, _

_The government's new Registration Act is finding all of the Bio-Engineered humans in order to move them to a safe location. When they come for you, GO WITH THEM. They are our government, and if anything were to happen, the blame would fall on my shoulders. AND DON'T EVEN THINK ABOUT RUNNING OFF AND FORMING A BIKE GANG like every other Bio-Engineered human nowadays. I may not be in that specific department, but once it is known that my grandson _willingly volunteered _to do that study 10 years ago, I will get h--- for it. Oh, and I also bought you a motorcycle for your birthday. It should arrive any day now. Enjoy life before they come for you! P.S. I told you that you should have joined the government instead of being tested on." –Love Gramps_

Luffy had laughed himself to tears that day; dropping the piece of government official work and rolling on the floor in hysterics. Makino had found the letter and started fussing about him again, worrying about his safety and what-not. The said motorbike had arrived later that day, and Luffy had been giddy with glee at the sight of the beautifully polished red bike. Already set on his decision, he was packed and ready to go two weeks later, but the elderly town mayor decided to stop by that day and demanded to know why Luffy had a 'demon's bike' sitting on his front lawn. After an enthusiastic explanation of his intentions from the teen, the mayor had yelled and scolded the boy about 'being foolish' and how Luffy should be a 'law-abiding citizen' and then was invited in for tea by Makino.

Now as Luffy sat in the stifling room he listened to the two people down below discussing about him, and then heard Makino's voice rise up a pitch. _Uh oh, that means that she's doing it again…_ Luffy thought as the conversation downstairs grew heated. _Whenever she gets like that, it means that she's defending me again._ Tired of having to be helped by the kindly young woman all the time and not doing anything to help himself, he had decided as a very young boy to join a bike gang, even before volunteering for the testing. It had been his life-long dream, ever since his hero Shanks of the Red-Haired Gang stopped by in town years ago. Luffy grinned at the happy memories of a younger him hanging out at the rowdy bar in the usually quiet town with the gang members.

His grin stiffened when he remembered the next part, the time when a street gang showed up one day and tried to humiliate Shanks after learning that his gang had purchased all of the rum. In a rage, Luffy had followed them into the town square, only to have been kidnapped by the leader. Shanks and his gang had come immediately to save the young boy, but while the rest of the bikers easily beat the street thugs the leader had run off with Luffy in tow, meaning to kill the little kid in anger. Shanks had followed, but in the tussle that occurred after they met up, Shanks's left arm had been so badly wounded that it had to be amputated. Being a ridiculously fast healer though, Shanks was back on his feet within two days despite the hospitals protests. The next morning the gang was loading supplies onto their bikes, and Luffy announced to the large and burly biker gang, "_I'm gonna go off and find nakama who are stronger than even than you guys, and I'm gonna ride Grand Highway, find One Piece, and become__the Biker Lord!_' Shanks grinned and laughed wildly when the little boy said these big words, and suddenly placed his lucky straw hat on the young boy's head. He told the surprised boy "_Luffy, return this to me when you become a strong man with powerful nakama, after you become__the Biker Lord."_ From that moment on Luffy's goal in life was to follow the path of freedom on the open road, and to find One Piece.

About a year later, the government called for a nation-wide search for people with the rare blood types of LO positive, ZO negative, and PO positive. They wanted 300 volunteers, and after Luffy learned that he had the PO specific blood type, the boy jumped at his chance. After a month of tests, he returned to the quiet town with amazing powers: his body was now made of rubber, and the government referred to him as a "Rubber Man", so the name stuck. For the past 9 years he had been practicing with his new found abilities, and now was finally strong enough to form his own biker gang like he had always dreamed.

Walking out of the house with his straw hat in hand, he looked back to the kitchen where the blue-haired woman sat with the hunched figure of the kindly but stern mayor and grinned widely. Turning away from the house he failed to see Makino hush the mayor and turn towards the front lawn where Luffy sat facing the open world, one leg on the ground and the other resting on his bike. As she and the disgruntled mayor watched, Luffy threw his arms to the heavens and yelled "YOSH! I'm gonna become Biker Lord!" The only thing the people of the town heard of his departure was the sound of a revving motorcycle and the shouts of laughter playing across the peaceful breeze of the night air as the teen rode out of sight.


	2. Times of Crisis

**Disclaimer: **I do not own One Piece or any of its Trademarks

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**2. Times of Crisis**

_So now the story is set into motion; to refuse to learn is only to repeat the mistakes of the past; any of these beginnings and more or less could describe the scene unfolding in the world right now. Of course, the best way to tell it is to be there, showing each detail as they present themselves, Which is exactly what is going to happen._

_000000000_

He was surrounded by almost twenty large men (he had stopped counting after fifteen), wearing spikes and leather, with tattoos littering their exposed flesh, with guns. And they were in a mood to rip his limbs off. _D---. That makes this, what, the third time this week? Fourth? Jeez, these guys don't know when to quit, do they… _The bloke on his right spoke, his words loud and slurred with too many drinks, "You…you d--- m----*-----! I'm gonna kill ya dead for calling me a wuss!" That seemed to be the unofficial signal for the mob to attack the teen in the center of their ring, as knives were whipped out and guns raised by shaking hands whose owners were not even close to sober.

It was only a blur to those brave or stupid enough to stay in the bar; steel on steel, sparks, and gunfire were the only distinguishable features about the blob of men surrounding the man standing in the center of them, and when they advanced he disappeared amidst the ugly, swarming males. The bartender watched with his shotgun held aloft and pointing into the mass of writhing bodies in case one of the rowdy thugs decided to go after the booze or cash in the commotion. He lowered his gun as he realized the fight was over as quickly as it had started though.

It took the green-haired man ten seconds, tops, to knock out everyone in the drunken mob, and he was very ticked off. "Jeez…" He spoke aloud to himself in complaint "It gets harder and harder to not just kill everyone who attacks me nowadays…" Rubbing his pounding head, he approached the counter again and asked the bartender for a large whiskey, wanting to get rid of the hammering headache he knew was forming. Being a reasonable enough man, the bartender went and got his customer his drink, then looked over at the other guy still in the bar. The cell phone was in his shaking hand, and the expression on his face clearly read 'omg I have never seen a fight before and I have no idea what to do but maybe I should call the police holy beep I'm freaked out'. The bartender placed his hands on the counter and roughly told the man, who was still staring transfixed at the 'winner' of the brawl. "If you know what's good for ya son, you're gonna get up, walk out of here, and not say a word of what's happened, ya hear?" The guy slowly nodded his head in response, then got up, and moved slowly towards the open door, increasing speed until he practically burst through the opening.

The barkeeper shook his head, and muttering something about 'youngsters these days' he looked over at the pile of bodies, noted that they were still breathing, and said to the younger man "I'll call the cops to come get these hooligans later, I think that you deserve a breather." He had noticed the battle scars on the man's shoulders and face, and figured that this was nothing compared to whatever it was that gave him those. The larger man walked into the backroom, leaving the teen alone in the bar area. Feeling his headache subsiding slightly, he decided that it was time to head out. Putting a good amount of cash on the counter, along with a decent tip for some damages, the man reached for his leather belt which lay on the seat next to him. Feeling the three short swords which hung from it gave the fighter a short feeling of calmness, then pulling it around his waist he headed for the door, only to smash headfirst into another figure going at full speed into the bar.

Annoyance overriding any sense of self-preservation, the swordsman demanded "Oi, watch where you're go-"He stopped mid sentence, once he got a look at the guy. It was a kid, with scruffy black hair and a…_Straw Hat? That's so freakish…_ The aforementioned teen was sitting on the floor, the force of the impact having knocked him to the ground. Reaching for his hat he checked it over to make sure it was ok, and finding nothing amiss, he sprang up from the ground, almost like a spring. _Weird…_ The man thought again, trying to think of where he had seen that before. He took a better look at the boy now that he was standing. The kid was wearing an old looking red dress shirt, really loosely tied black tie flopping down his front, below the knee cut-off jeans, black and yellow tennis-shoes, and that ridiculous straw hat. _Well, I guess he looks better than me at least. _He had on a white T-shirt, baggy black jeans, green and black Eckos®(Ecko Unlimited Thrones®), and the black leather belt with his three short swords hanging from it. He looked back up to the other's face, now that he was done 'inspecting' him.

The teen now looked at the man he had run into with blunt surprise on his bright face, bowed slightly and said "Oh, I am very sorry for knocking into you." Erecting himself once more, he grinned from ear to ear, revealing every single tooth in his whole head practically, and said "Hi! I'm Monkey D. Luffy, who are you?" Now in a milder but still cranky mood, the man replied "Who needs to know?" Looking him over again he figured that the boy couldn't be more than 18 at most. "Why are you in here anyway? You're too young to drink. How old are you, 14?"

The boy scowled in a way that would have made the other teen choke out in laughter had he not be in such a bad mood, and retorted "Eh? Oh, I guess I'm 17, but how old are you then? Eighteen?" At this the green-haired man grew a quick and tense frown as he glanced back to see if the bartender was listening in. Seeing the room still empty, he scowled at the boy, and replied "Aw, be quiet you! If they get a hold of my fake ID, I'm gonna get thrown back in juvie for sure this time!" The boy cocked his head to one side. "Huh? Thrown into where? Who threw you in that place?" The older teen realized his slip of words and cringed. Sighing in annoyance at himself, he walked past the other boy towards the doors again. "Never mind…look, I've gotta be somewhere, so-"He was stopped as a hand touched his shoulder, making him stop. He turned his head to see what else the kid wanted and saw…that the kid was still standing where he had left him… on the other side of the room.

_Holy beep…what the!? _The arm was long. _Stretched!?_ He was freaked out by his thoughts, and clear surprise shone through on his tan face. 'Retracting' his hand, the boy grinned wider and ignoring the other man's apparent shock said "Ha-ha! I like you! I saw what you did to those other guys over there." The kid placed a hand on his hat. "You're really strong too, so you should join my biker gang!" He had on that huge grin again, while the other man stood stunned by all of these sudden things he just heard and saw. Shaking it off after a minute, and trying to figure out if the kid was joking or not, he shook his head and sighed. _I could just ignore him…but I don't have any money left...and those losers I beat up aren't worth anything from the station…but there's just something weird about him, not even including the…stretching. _He looked hard at the other boy. "I'm a bounty hunter kid, I go out and catch criminals on the run, and hand them in to whoever's paying. I'm no bike-gang member. Heck, I've caught more gang members than I can even remember!" He was trying to shake this kid, trying to knock some sense into this brainless idiot who just met a complete stranger yet asks him to join his bike gang. It didn't work. The boy just grinned wider and then replied "Oh! Cool! So that means that you are a good guy! You only catch the bad guys then huh?" He laughed out loud, a hearty, fun ring that stirred something inside the swordsman, something he couldn't quite place. The boy, Luffy, smiled and said "Now I just want you to join up even more now!"

Looking at the teen in a mix of emotions, most identifiable were confusion and interest, he lowered his gaze to the floor. Closing his eyes he folded his arms across his chest and thought for a moment while the other watched expectantly. A small grin broke out on his face, and raising his gaze to meet the other boy's, he said "Whatever. I'll join up, sure." For some reason, he just had an overwhelming feeling of trust in this strange, amusing boy who he knew close to nothing about. At hearing the swordsman's response, the boy jumped into the air in excitement, throwing his hands above his head he yelled "Awesome! Let's head out then! To the next town!" Knowing not what he had gotten himself into now, the swordsman followed the excited teen out of the doors, and into the cool night air. "Oh, that's right. I don't know what your name is." The boy stopped jumping and turned his head to look at his new comrade expectantly. Grinning wickedly, the man answered, "My name…is Roronoa, Zoro." as he followed his new leader into the darkness of the night.

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No, don't ask me why I gave Zoro awesomely manly shoes….maybe because they're large…and slightly resemble in real life what his shoes could be…or what he could like to wear…anyway…if you are a very strange person, and haven't seen the Ecko's that I am talking about, then look them up online. -I do not own Ekco shoes; I just used the name in my story. Seriously…is it illegal??? i will freak majorly if it is!!!-


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